Ezra 10

The foreign marriages were not something that took place over night. Ezra had been in the land for only four months. When we first meet him in the middle of this narrative, there is much attention given to his attentiveness to know, do and teach God’s law. There was carefulness to pray for God’s protection, to seek out Levites, and make sure that the funds were handled honestly.

To properly assess, something must be in place that identifies a break in relationship. With our former emphasis of Ezra, let’s continue reading in chapter 10 to see what it is that gives the proper assessment

Ezra 10:1–6 (NKJV)

1 Now while Ezra was praying, and while he was confessing, weeping, and bowing down before the house of God, a very large assembly of men, women, and children gathered to him from Israel; for the people wept very bitterly.

2 And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, spoke up and said to Ezra, “We have trespassed against our God, and have taken pagan wives from the peoples of the land; yet now there is hope in Israel in spite of this.

3 Now therefore, let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and those who have been born to them, according to the advice of my master and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.

4 Arise, for this matter is your responsibility. We also are with you. Be of good courage, and do it.”

5 Then Ezra arose, and made the leaders of the priests, the Levites, and all Israel swear an oath that they would do according to this word. So they swore an oath.

6 Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib; and when he came there, he ate no bread and drank no water, for he mourned because of the guilt of those from the captivity.

Our God has given us a law that reflects His nature. It reveals where we fall short. So to properly asses:

Assess it with God’s law and God’s people

Ezra’s mourning was done before the temple. This was not a show. Through his response, the people saw how grievous the sin was. In order to properly assess you must also have relationships in you life that take sin seriously.

We live in a culture that cheapens a gift like marriage love. A TV show or music will show you that it is something that you can enjoy and experiment with without commitment.

You have a flesh that relishes looking out for yourself. Getting what you want, saying what you want, getting satisfaction from the likes you get on a social media post, and putting others down is part of living. God‘s law exposes it as detestible, destructive, and foolish.

We assent to these truths but become insensitive if we don’t keep God’s expectations before us. We easily diminish our sinfulness by our comparison with others or by our outward conformity to rules. We need hearts (and friends) that are feeling the weight of God’s goodness and greatness and hence mourn over betraying such love and arrogantly defying Him.

Transition: God’s law is like the referee that points out where we are wrong and tell us the consequence but it cannot weigh the betrayal of the offense. To properly assess the deadly foe you must

Assess it as a personal betrayal of God

Through the teaching of God’s word, Schecaniah sees this as breaking faith in relationship with a trustworthy God. The foreign woman is one who deceitfully trits to pull them away from true love.

God has created us a worshiping people. When love is set on the Him,one finds delights and nourishment. Yes it has costs and mundaneness. However, to turn to another love only diminishes the true love and calls Him insufficient. You are turning from genuine love to a phony love. It is easy to try and live a good life for the sake of your reputation and bypass this dimension of love.

Transition: there is one more assessment that we see in these verses. The first two assessment must come before this one or it will not be done properly. When assessment is done by God’s law and is measured in a personal way toward God, then one can:

Assess it as repairable

Shechaniah declares that there is still hope. He calls on Ezra to take courage.

A breach only remains if it is denied. We have a myriad of reasons for assessing our sins and struggles as beyond hope.

The struggle takes too long and is too hard.

I have had this bad habit so long

The pain from others is so deep

I am not that broken

We must hear God speak to our sinfulness. He doesn’t call it less than it is or more than it is.

Transition: With the proper assessment, you must then

Carefully Remove

Ezra 10:7–8 NKJV

And they issued a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the descendants of the captivity, that they must gather at Jerusalem, and that whoever would not come within three days, according to the instructions of the leaders and elders, all his property would be confiscated, and he himself would be separated from the assembly of those from the captivity.

We are dealing with a narrative account in Scripture. We don’t look at this passage and copy the response of the people even though it was done with good intentions. We are looking at how this passage and book play in the big theme of Scripture that reveals the heart of God as He is rescuing a people and bringing all things under His rule. The book of Ezra deals with the part of the story that speaks of God‘s hope for a people who have been in exile. He has not given up on His people. The story continues with a people and world full of problems.

Transition: This gives reason as to why breaches in a relationship with God must be removed carefully

Remove in light of complications

Was the proposed solution of divorcing from the wives and children, the right action. Was that a cruel thing to do?

God’s design: one man, one woman- not to be separated until death

God‘s exceptions- given because of the hardness of hearts and for the care of the ones abandoned.

Matthew 19:8 NKJV

He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.

God’s exceptions are not to be used as a means for selfish desires and poor commitment. Pursue and wait for reconciliation as long as possible. Don’t remain with someone who abuses you.

He says that the unbeliever should not marry the unbeliever. However 1 Cor. 7 introduces us to a situation in which an unbeliever becomes converted in a relationship. They are not to leave the relationship with the unbeliever if they are willing to stay with them.

The earlier sin is dealt with the better.

The longer the sin pattern, the more patience and discerment must be used. However, this does not call for less diligence and more excuses. We must also

Remove with thoroughness

Their urgency, (3 days), high cost (winter months; excommunication from the community),is in line with other parts of God’s revelation. - (examples of right eye offends, if one refuses to repent

The thoroughness involved the community. Ezra models faithful study, teaching, and doing, and weeping. We don’t see him taking a forceful, authoritarian hand in this even though he was given that kind of power from the Persian king. This is in line with the life of the church. You don’t need to be meddling in matters in such a way that only spreads the problem. With your fellow church members there should be growing relationships that involve caring enough about your brother or sister to ask them about things that may be harming them and the cause of Christ. There should be care given to listen well, ask questions, offer help, and share your own struggles.

Transition: Ezra 10 is not a 3 step process for removing breaches in our relationship with God. We are observing what God moved the narrator to emphasize and we are seeking his help as to how that gives light into our walk with this same God. To deal with the breaches in our relationship with God, your must properly assess with God’s standard, carefully remove the breach’s revealed and then..

Be alert to your vulnerability

Ezra 10:18–19 NKJV

And among the sons of the priests who had taken pagan wives the following were found of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brothers: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah. And they gave their promise that they would put away their wives; and being guilty, they presented a ram of the flock as their trespass offering.

We now have our third lengthy list of names in this book. This is the list of the 113 men that married foreign women. At the top of this list is the sons of the high priest, priest, and Levites. In the place of most nearness God is the place some of the offense was taking place

Vulnerability is masked with piety

We feel all right if we have a church attendance or respect within the community. It is easy to treat God as someone we use for our ends. This does not lead to paranoia; rather we must interact much with the one who knows and cares for our soul.

Vulnerability is masked by smallness

This is only 113 mean out of several thousand. Did they need to make such a big deal. Nehemiah will later deal with this same problem. He declares that the children are not even speaking the same languages as their dads. Hence the training in the home cannot even continue.

We must all assume that we have wrong proportions of emphasis. We can emphasize that God is most interested in my heart (the spring of all life) while being naive to the input (entertainment, friendships, workplace) that is coming in to your heart. You can have conservative standards while being naive to the covetousness warring in your heart. Little comprimises must be viewed as parts of a breach in a life line to your relationship with God.

Conclusion

Matthew 5:4 NKJV

Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.

Treat the breach as the right size. God dealt with in the right proportion in Christ. It was so big that it took the blood of a perfect Savior to take it away. It was so important to Him that he stopped at nothing to remove that which separated me from Him.

So treating the breach as the right size involves seeing it as something atoned for.

Seeing it as the right size means I don’t look at job, home, food, and fun and declare that life is good while avoiding the offenses against God.

Seeing it as the right size means I don’t mourn only when thing are not going my way.

This passage was written for your hope. True hope is anticipated now and deals with any breaches that diminish the hope that you have.

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